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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2009, p. 1781-1784, Vol. 47, No. 6
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.00260-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Distribution of the Escherichia coli Common Pilus among Diverse Strains of Human Enterotoxigenic E. coli{triangledown}

Dana Blackburn,1 Amanda Husband,1 Zeus Saldaña,1 Rania A. Nada,2 John Klena,2 Firdausi Qadri,3 and Jorge A. Girón1*

Department of Immunobiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85724,1 U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit 3, Cairo, Egypt,2 International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh3

Received 6 February 2009/ Accepted 26 March 2009

The Escherichia coli common pilus (ECP) is produced by commensal and pathogenic E. coli strains. This pilus is unrelated to any of the known colonization factors (CFs) of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). In this study, we investigated the distribution and production of ECP among a collection of 136 human CF-positive and CF-negative ETEC strains of different geographic origins. The major pilus subunit gene, ecpA, was found in 109 (80%) of these strains, suggesting that it is widely distributed among ETEC strains. Phenotypic analysis of a subset of 43 strains chosen randomly showed that 58% of them produced ECP independently of the presence or absence of CFs, a percentage even higher than that of the most prevalent CFs. These data suggest an important role for ECP in the biology of ETEC, particularly in CF-negative strains, and in human infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 1600 W. Archer Rd., Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, ARB R-151, Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610. Phone: (352) 392-3136. Fax: (352) 846-2042. E-mail: jagiron{at}yahoo.com

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 April 2009.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 2009, p. 1781-1784, Vol. 47, No. 6
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.00260-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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